Artfully Adorned explores two centuries of jewelry history. Designs, motifs, and materials place each artifact within the context of the times in which they were made. Presented in the Annette Green Fragrance Archive, this intimate exhibition features approximately 50 pieces of historic jewelry from the Christie Romero Collection.

Customs, economics, and social structures are each expressed through jewelry. Design and ornamentation provide information about peoples’ lives from past centuries. Adorning one’s body fulfills a desire to communicate identity, including status, spiritual beliefs, and relationships. Jewelry provides an outlet to display individuality while simultaneously adhering to popular aesthetics. Costume jewelry, in particular, was intended to provide the look of expense without the cost of pricey materials. Much like ready-to-wear following trends set by haute couture, costume jewelry is the cheaper form of fine jewelry, but often worn together since the 1920s.

Christie Romero (1946-2009) was a gemologist, collector, historian, curator, consultant, and appraiser. She wrote the best-selling Warman’s Jewelry, a reference guide to 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century jewelry, and served as an expert appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow television program. A portion of her collection is now part of the Permanent Collection of the FIDM Museum, which celebrates her legacy with the exhibition Artfully Adorned.

There are no fragrance related objects on display at this time. Artfully Adorned is open to the public Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. Like all exhibitions at the FIDM Museum, admission to Artfully Adorned is FREE. Please note: visitors must have a current photo ID to access the Annette Green Fragrance Archive, which is located on the 2nd floor of the FIDM Los Angeles campus.